Box for holding contents under internal pressure



July 5, 1955 B. KOSCHATZKY ETAL 2,712,394

BOX FOR HOLDING CONTENTS UNDER INTERNAL PRESSURE Filed June 3, 1949 FIG.

FIG. I

FIG. 2

FIG. 4

|| Inventors:

Patented July 5, 1955 BOX FOR HOLDING CONTENTS UNDER INTERNAL PRESSURE Bruno Koschatzky and Giuseppe Parini, Milan, Italy, assignors to Pirelli Societa per Azioni, Milan, Italy Application June 3, 1949, Serial No. 96,856

Claims priority, application Italy June 19, 1948 10 Claims. (Cl. 220-8) This invention pertains to receptacles adapted to maintain internal superatmospheric gas pressures.

More particularly, it has reference to such receptacles for the shipment and storage of gas-inflated articles, such as tennis balls and the like, so that such articles cannot become deflated during shipment or storage for extended periods of time.

In the storage of articles subject to atmospheric oxidation it is desirable to not only preclude the entrance of air into the storage receptacle by means of hermetic sealing, but for certain types of gas-inflated articles, such as tennis balls and the like, it is also desirable to maintain within the receptacle a gas pressure greater than the inflated pressure of the articles, so that the gas within the receptacle may penetrate into the article and maintain its charged pressure, rather than the reverse phenomenon whereby the inflated article loses its gas charge by external diffusion.

An object of this invention is to provide receptacles of this character which are adapted to automatically generate an internal pneumatic pressure whenever the receptacles are closed and which will maintain such pressure for long periods of time.

Another object is to provide a receptacle of this kind, wherein the internal pneumatic pressure is gradually increased as the receptacle is closed and the degree of internal pressure is adjustable by varying the engagement of the cover with the body of the receptacle.

Another object is to provide a receptacle of simple and inexpensive construction having the characteristics mentioned.

With these and other objects in view which may be incident to our improvements, our invention consists of the combination and arrangement of elements hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the cover of one form of my improved receptacle;

Figure 2 shows the body of the receptacle, partly in vertical section and partly in side elevation;

Figure 3 shows the cover of Figure 1 and body of Figure 2 assembled in closed position, the former being in vertical section and the latter in side elevation; and

Figure 4 is a view, similar to Figure 3, showing a modification of the receptacle shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3.

Referring particularly to Figure 1, the cover of the receptacle shown comprises a hollow, cylindrical tube 1 of sheet metal, impervious fibre, plastic, or other similar material, which is closed at its upper end by a disk 2 of the same material, permanently fastened thereto by crimping, swaging or other similar means.

The lower open end of the tube 1 is formed with an outwardly flared portion 3 which terminates in a hollow head or channel 4 for the reception of the outer edge of an elastic gasket 5, of rubber or the like, which is securely seated therein. The gasket 5 has an inwardly extending circular lip 6 of rectangular cross-section, as clearly shown in Figure l.

The body of the receptacle, shown in Figure 2, comprises a hollow, cylindrical tube 7 of the same material as the cover, but of somewhat smaller diameter, so as to telescope within the cover when the receptacle is assembled in closed position, as shown in Figure 3. The up per edge of the body 7 is folded in to form a rounded shoulder 8 of somewhat reduced diameter. Below the middle of the body 7 is a groove 9 of semi-circular section, and below the groove 9, at a suitable distance, are fixedly attached a plurality of spring hooks 10, adapted to engage the outer edge of the head 4 on the cover 1 when the cover 1 is assembled to the body 7 in closed position, as shown in Figure 3. The bottom of the body 7 is closed by a circular disk 11 crimped or otherwise attached thereto in the same manner as the disk 2 to the cover 1.

After the articles that are to be stored in the receptacle are placed in the body 7, the open end of the cover 1 is placed over the open end of the body 7 and the cover pushed down, thus telescoping over the body 1, until the bead 4 of the cover 1 is engaged by the spring hooks 10 which then hold the body and cover assembled in closed position, as shown in Figure 3. When the conical shoulder 8 on the body 1 first engages the lip 6 of the gasket 5, the lip is slightly stretched and bent inwardly so as to form an air-tight seal with the outside of the body 1. Moreover, the air trapped between the cover 1 and the body 7 is compressed as the cover and body are telescoped to assembled position (as shown in Figure 3), and acts to increase the contact of the lip 6 against the body 1, so that the sealing force of the gasket 5 increases with the increase of internal pressure in the container.

From the foregoing description, it is evident that the amount of pressure generated in the container upon closure depends upon the relative movement of the cover 1 with reference to the body 7, after the lip 6 of gasket 5 engages the body 1. This relative movement of the cover 1 and the body 7 in turn depends upon their telescoped length when assembled in closed position; hence the longer the length of the cover 1 and the lower the position of the hooks 10, the greater the pressure of the air which is compressed by the cover 1 when closing the receptacle. Where maximum pressure is desired, the cover 1 is made greater in length and the hooks 10 are located lower down on the body 1, as shown in the modification illustrated in Fig. 4.

When it is desired to open the container, the cover 1 is disengaged from the body 7, by first inserting the fingers of the hand grasping the cover 1 between the inner sides of the spring hooks 10 and the cover 1 and pushing outwardly on these hooks until the bead 4 is released therefrom, whereupon the cover 1 will be pushed away from the body 7 by the compressed air in the container.

As the cover 1 moves away from the closed position, the groove 9 in the body 1 engages the inner edge of the lip 6 of the gasket 5 and reverses the inclination of the lip 6 with reference to the body 1. This allows the compressed air in the container to escape and thus prevent the violent disengagement of the cover 1 from the body 7.

The receptacle described above and illustrated in the drawing is but one of the many possible shapes and sizes that may be utilized in practicing our invention which aims essentially at providing a receptacle of any suitable shape and size, made of any suitable material, that will produce an internal pneumatic pressure during its closure operation and maintain said pressure for an extended pe riod. It is apparent that the amount of internal pressure produced upon closure of my receptacle may be selectively varied by varying the length of the cover and the location of the fastening means on the body. The fastening means may also be of any appropriate type equivalent to the spring hooks 10.

While we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we desire it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the constructional details disclosed by Way of illustration, as it is apparent that these may be changed and modified by those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit of our invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A receptacle for the storage of solid material articles therein, comprising a pair of spaced, rigid, tubular, telescoping members, each completely open at one end'and closed at the opposite end, and a deformable, annular gasket interposed between said members and forming therewith an air-tight seal; said gasket being permanently attached at its outer edge to one of said rigid members, and slidingly contacting said other rigid member at the periphcry of its inner edge, to form therewith an air-tight running seal; said members telescoping non-contactingly to form, without deformation and with said gasket, a hermetically sealed storage chamber, when assembled in closed position; said members and gasket also by such assembly compressing the air entrapped in said chamber and thus producing a selected super-atmospheric air pressure while so assembled.

2. A receptacle according to claim 1, having resilient metal means for snap-fastening said members in a selected, fixed, telescopic position, relative to each other, whereby a selected gas pressure is maintained in said storage chamber while said members are in assembled position.

3. A receptacle according to claim 2, wherein said members are of substantially the same length and said fastening means engages and holds said members in such relative position that said inner member is telescoped within said outer member a distance substantially equal to the length of the former.

4. A receptacle according to claim 3, wherein said fastening means comprises a plurality of resilient elements, attached to one of said members; which automatically engage a rigid element on said other member, and thus lock said members in a selected relative position, when said members are telescoped to a selected extent.

5. A receptacle according to claim 1, wherein the inner member is provided with a groove which engages the contacting portion of said gasket and automatically breaks. -its air-tight seal when said members are moved to disassembled position.

6. A receptacle according to claim 5, wherein said gasket when undeformed has a cross section which is thicker at its outer peripheral portion than at its inner peripheral portion and is attached, at its outer portion, to said outer member, while its inner portion slidingly contacts said inner member with a running, air-tight seal and engages in. said groove, when said members are disassembled, whereby said seal is broken.

7. A receptacle according to claim 6, wherein said gasket is inclined toward the longitudinal axis of said inner member, when said members are in assembled position, and said inclination is reversed by said groove when said inner member is moved toward disassembled position, thereby breaking the seal of said gasket.

8. A receptacle according to claim 7, wherein said groove is so situated on said inner member that the breaking of said seal occurs shortly after the commencement of movement of said inner member toward disassembled position. 7

9. A portable hermetic container for solid material articles requiring to be kept in an atmosphere at superatmospheric pressure, comprising: a container body closed at one end and open at the other end, and a closure member of substantially equal length, similarly closed atone end and open at the other end, said container body and closure member being, in the closed condition of the container, telescoped one into the other with their closed ends at opposite ends of the container, and with an air space completely separating said body from said member; hermetic sealing means for the container, carried upon one of the parts and effective to seal the container both in the closed condition thereof and also during the process of closing the container, whichprocess involves relative telescoping movement of the container body and the closure member through a distance equal to the length of the latter, with resulting substantial reduction of the volume of the container and corresponding substantial increase of the air pressure therein; said sealing means comprising a ring of resiliently flexible material attached at one of its peripheries to said closure member and contacting said body at its other periphery, with a pressure proportional to said entrapped air pressure, the general plane of said ring being transverse to the path of relative movement of the parts to and from the container-closed positions thereof; said ring being of a diameter at its inner periphery less than the external diameter of said body, with the result that as said body is telescoped into said closure memher, said ring is forced to assume, against the progres sively increasing pressure of the container, an axially distorted condition in which its inner periphery is out of contact with said closure member and is directed towards the inner end of said closure member, which condition continues upon the parts of the container reaching their fully closed positions until such time as the container is opened, the form of said closure member in the neighborhood of said ring being such as to afiord to the ring a freedom for such distortion; and an annular groove in the outer periphery of said body, which engages the inner periphery of said ring, during the outward movement of said body relatively to said closure member, and reverses the direction of axial distortion of said ring, thereby breaking the seal.

10. A portable hermetic container as in claim 9 wherein the groove-is so situated along the container body that the breaking of the seal occurs soon after commencement of said outward movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,092,641 Garceau Apr. 7, 1914 1,243,239 Albrechtsen, Oct. 16, 1917 1,260,737 White Mar. 26, 1918 1,910,930 Morris May 23, 1933 2,045,003 Staley June 23, 1936 2,064,916 Jagschitz Dec. 22, 1936 2,081,925 Graf June 1, 1937 2,339,827 White June 25, 194-4 2,465,095 Harvey Mar. 22, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 10,827 Austria Feb. 25, 1903 

